Is Your Business Secretly Working Against You?

By Dino Tartaglia.

Let’s not sugarcoat this.

You’ve probably been in business long enough to realise that “work harder” isn’t the answer.

You’ve put in the hours. You’ve bought the courses. You’ve stayed up late rewriting offers and wondering if it’s your pricing, your pitch… or your personality.

And yet, here you are.

Still swinging between months of feast and famine. Still waking up at 3am, wondering how to make it all work. Still questioning if this was ever a good idea.

If that sounds familiar, let me offer you a little reframe:

You’re not broken. But something else is definitely out of step with where it needs to be.

The Yo-Yo Business Trap

I call it a Doom Loop (with thanks to the genius that is Nic Peterson for the term).

That exhausting pattern where things seem to go well - a couple of wins, a few clients, momentum building - only for it all to stall again.

You push harder. Hustle more. Download another “blueprint”.

But nothing sticks.

And here’s the kicker: it’s not because you’re not good enough. It’s because what you’re building doesn’t fully match who you are or how you work best.

It’s not you - it’s a misalignment between you and the business you’ve ‘accidentally’ or tactically created.

How Misalignment Shows Up

Misalignment doesn’t wave a red flag. It creeps in quietly.

One day, you’re excited. The next, you’re drained by your own calendar.
You love what you do, but you’re rapidly falling out of love with what your business has become.

Sound familiar?

Here’s how I typically see it show up:

    •    You’re amazing at delivery, but marketing feels like a root canal.
    •    You light up in client sessions, but dread selling yourself.
    •    You’re booked solid one month, then flapping around looking for clients the next.
    •    You’ve “tried everything” - yet still feel like you’re missing something obvious.

And the worst part? Your confidence in your abilities is at an all-time low, and you start blaming yourself.

Let me clue you in: You can’t build a sustainable business on a foundation that isn’t aligned with your character, your clarity, or your level of conviction.

It’s Not a Tactical Problem

Misalignment doesn’t get fixed with another funnel, a new logo, or better hashtags.

It gets fixed by realising that most of your surface-level problems —such as inconsistent income, low energy, and fuzzy messaging—are symptoms, not root causes.

The root cause?

You’ve built a business that requires you to be someone you’re not… at least, not yet and not consistently.

And when you’re misaligned - even slightly - the cost is massive:

    •    Your confidence wobbles (at best).
    •    Your decision-making slows or, worse still, goes entirely off the reservation.
    •    Your calendar fills with Busywork instead of meaningful growth.
    •    Your valuable time & focus are gobbled up chasing new prospects constantly, rather than having a pipeline that naturally matures into great-fit clients.

It’s like trying to row a boat with a single oar anchored to the right side of the boat and wondering why you keep spinning in circles.

Mind the Gaps

Here’s a little exercise I walk my clients through:

Take a piece of paper. Mark three columns as follows:

• ‘What Matters Most’ (WMM - what you *really* want, e.g. freedom, consistent £10k/$12k months, better clients, etc)
• Issues’ (what’s going on in real time that’s preventing this/happening instead) and
• Problem’ (what you believe is actually causing the Issue in column 2 in each case).

An example might be:

1. WMM - More time with my daughter - uninterrupted by ‘random urgent’ from problematic clients

2. Issue - ‘Random urgent’ is preventing me from even getting out of the office to be with my daughter

3. Problem - poor / unfocused client attraction, selection, and onboarding [probably attracting too many energy vampires amongst other things]

Chances are, the gap between Columns 1 and 2/3 isn’t just tactical - it’s structural. It’s behavioural. It’s misaligned thinking manifesting as inconsistent results.

And often, those gaps stem from one of three things:

• Clarity Void – You’re not 100% clear on the problem you solve or who you help
• Conviction Void – You’re not fully backing yourself (even if you look confident on the outside)

Commitment Void – You keep one foot out the door, just in case it all goes sideways.
If you’re in just one of these voids (and let’s be honest, most of us do), no tactic on Earth will save you until it’s addressed. (Typically, we experience a blend of all three…)

The ‘Be-Do-Have’ Flip

Here’s something we hammer home inside our Success Unlocked Community:

Most people operate on a “Do → Have → Be” model.

Do the right stuff, have the results, then be the confident, successful version of themselves.

But that’s backwards.

The ones who succeed long-term? They flip it.

They Become the person first - grounded, clear, committed.

Then they Do what that version of themselves would do.

And only then do they Have the results they actually want.

Let me put it bluntly: You can’t out-strategise (or outwork) your own self-doubt.

A Tale of Two Experts

Let me give you a real-world example.

Matt’s a solid business strategist. Two decades of experience, glowing testimonials, and great client results.

But he kept stalling.

New offer? Crickets. 
Webinar? Meh. 
LinkedIn posts? Dead zone.

He was doing everything “right”, but none of it landed.

Why?

Because underneath the surface, he didn’t actually believe his new positioning. His messaging was hesitant. His offers were diluted.

Contrast that with Jess, a freelance copywriter with half his experience. We worked together to rebuild her business from the inside out.

She got clear on the problem she actually solved, and who she really wanted to work with. Upped her prices. Started being the expert and someone who could hold (and expected) success - not just saying she was one & could.

Booked out in 60 days.

Same market. Same economy. Different alignment.

You’re Not Alone. You’re not ‘Broken’. You’re Just Misaligned - I see this all the time.
Experienced, brilliant business owners who are running around in ever-decreasing circles because they’re stuck inside a business that no longer fits.

Or never did.

And it’s not their fault. But it is their responsibility.

Because once you see the misalignment, you can’t unsee it.

And once you fix it, everything changes:
    •    Clients find you easier.
    •    Selling gets simpler.
    •    Work feels like flow, not friction.
    •    Your income steadies. Your calendar breathes again.

Most critically, you stop chasing momentum and start creating it.

The Takeaway

If you’re feeling stuck, stalled, or scattered, don’t reach for another tactic.
Instead, ask:

    •    Where am I misaligned with the business I want to build?
    •    What’s the root cause behind my feast and famine cycles?
    •    Am I trying to run a business that doesn't fit how I inherently operate?

Because clarity isn’t about finding the next big thing. Like Michelangelo’s David, it’s about enabling you to strip away everything that doesn’t belong (as Michelangelo put it, chipping away every piece of marble that wasn’t ‘David’). 

Next Steps

If this hit home, then I invite you to take the next step.

Join us inside Success Unlocked - our coaching community built specifically for people exactly like you: high-integrity, overqualified, under-leveraged entrepreneurs who are done playing the wrong game.

Or, if you’re ready to rebuild something fully aligned with who you are and how you work best and want to really ‘collapse time’ and accelerate your progress, let’s chat about my Profit Protol 90-day hybrid 1:1 & group coaching process.

Together, we’ll strip back the noise and rebuild a business that actually fits, one that stops fighting you - and starts working for you.

DM me, tag me in the TFCEO group, or book a call.

Let’s end the Doom Loop - for good.

To your inevitable success.

PS This article is a rework of a couple of chapters in my book, ‘Misaligned’. If you fancy reading it, I’ve got a special offer just for readers of TFCEO mag. Message me with the word ‘Misaligned’ (or share more, if you wish) and I’ll ensure you get the link.

Dino Tartaglia is a former Electronics Engineer, now a businessman, mentor, coach and troubleshooter working to help you, if you’re a coach, consultant, creative or service provider, to Build a Joyful, Dependable Business around Being Brilliant at What You Do. 

In his own coaching, and together with world-class coach Simon Hartley, the other half of Success Engineers (their joint business), he helps you to improve your thinking to ask better questions, so that you solve the right problems in your business at the right time, develop your own personal performance as a business owner and get closer to What Matters Most. 

You can find Dino in his low-cost/high-impact Facebook Group , on the Success Engineers website or on any of these other locations: Facebook | LinkedIn| Instagram |PodCast - Back Bedroom to Big Business